>> ^Lawdeedaw:

See, my father is an uneducated man. However, he is wise even without knowledge. He does not believe in a god any more than an atheist of higher learning.
I am just tired of all the drones who attack religion because they think it corrupts mankind. Who created religion? We did. We would find another reason to be destructive, lazy, hateful, wasteful, etcetera if religion was not around. Oh, wait! Do we even need a reason for all those things? Nope...
As though stupidity breeds, or religion breeds in the minds of stupid people only... How sad of a thought to have. I know many smart men, loving and kind, who have religion and use it in the right way. One probably saved my life during bad times...
But it's easy to blame a concept rather than a people...


I see religion as a failure of logic, depending on the level of devotion. Some people use religion as a fallback for actions which are stupid, idiotic or just plain wrong. This justification through a belief allows an individual to place the onus of their actions on their religion rather than on their own judgment of the situation and morality.

I'm not saying that good things don't come out of religion, to this day the cologne cathedral is one of the most awe inspiring pieces of architecture I've ever laid eyes on, and the crusades, although terrible and pointless, didn't bring fabulous riches or land for the Europe, but medicine and science from the middle east. The Salvation Army is a great charity doing a lot of amazing work, but they aren't without their flaws.

I'm not hating on religion, but I do dislike people using it as a justification for their actions. This may or may not be related to the video, but it felt like a good place to say it.

Also, this guy is a pastor and the comments seem to have swayed this way so *religion

Hahahah I "love" that picture where it made them look like the spikey hide of some devilish demon. This is just absurd...most of the Gothic cathedrals are more ominous than a minaret. The violence of majority faction expressing itself in a government not bound by negative powers, but obligated to provide for the public "good".

Here are the lyrics in English, from the video description:

Le commun des mortels (The common of mortals, the status quo, the average man)

In my opinion
One must quest as far
As those banished
From a city without children

From above the mountains
To the depths of prison camps
I follow the common of mortals

In the square
Of a cathedral in flames
I make my bed
And await the voice of God

From above all knowledge
To the loss of mind
I am the common of mortals

Always in vain
The quest
For truth
Always in vain
The quest
For truth
Oh, stop
This Pirouette

In my opinion
One must quest as far
From above the mountains
To the depths of prison camps
From above all knowledge
To the loss of mind
From above the sugar-coated
Until I am happy
I follow the common of mortals

Wow amazing, reminds me of a CGI short from a few years ago.
http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Cathedral-by-Tomasz-Baginski

As a gross conceptual gesture, urban living is much better for long term survival of the species and the planet. Here in America we have malignant urban sprawl, everyone with a parcel of land with a cheaply constructed house and leaking septic and oil tanks and an over-fertalized lawn. A forty minute commute in an emission-spewing SUV, no sidewalks and strip malls you can't walk to. I've just returned from a couple of large European cites and the difference is breathtaking. A proliferation of bicycles and public transport, bounteous pedestrian traffic, food and groceries close enough that you can carry them home. Almost no one is obese. So much more efficient. But Europe has had a thousand years to build it's infrastructure. I bet if you went to the grounds of the cathedral five hundred years ago, we'd have thought of them as shantytowns too.

But, yeah. This could have been at least a half an hour's worth of information.

First a Darth Vader mask, now this. Will the Man ever learn? I hope not.

I still can't believe the National Cathedral got the Darth thing.
http://www.nationalcathedral.org/about/darthVader.shtml
http://fraudwasteabuse.com/images/stone_darth.jpg

1. I like bandwagons.
2. Sang in a cathedral boychoir for several years .
2.5 Was never molested.
3. Ran/run sound for numerous plays, live shows, and recordings.
4. Got bored and dropped out of college.
5. Shelved books in a library for a few years.
6. My pops used to own a recording studio and currently owns his own music store.
7. Never broken a bone or needed stitches.
8. Worked as a telemarketer for 6 months despite rarely ever selling anything.
9. Found lots of pot (etc.) hookups working as a telemarketer.
10. My house is filled with instruments that I don't play enough.
11. I've driven 8 cars into the ground.
12. Worked as a pizza guy and again found lots of hookups.
13. Play here and there with an improv band with a revolving cast.
14. Was once caught doing naughty things in a park.
15. Had a rat tail when I was 7.
16. Had a mullet when I was 13.
17. Had my hand slammed in the hatch of an 80's Honda Civic when I was a kid.
18. Believed in Santa till I realized he used the exact same wrapping paper as my parents.
19. Built a few awesome cornfield hideouts.
20. Lost my glasses in the snow one winter only to find them 3 months later unharmed.
21. Had my entire CD collection stolen, twice.
22. Listen to NPR all the time, though have never donated.
23. Terrible bowler.
24. Dreamed of being an architect and drew house and building designs in notebooks for years.
25. Went to caucus for Kucinich, but instead sat for Obama in Iowa after no one else showed up.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'cathedral, showdown, cowboy, bebop' to 'cathedral, showdown, cowboy, bebop, anime' - edited by mauz15

In short, to your question: yes. The books are open to those who ask for them. You only need to go to those responsible for the money and ask for the reports. They're not online if that's what you mean. Go to the church and ask.

Christian churches spend their "profit" on expanding, missionaries, and other charitable programs. Their spending is completely transparent to their congregation (by mission and by law) so there is no funny stuff. My home church expanded from 40 people to 1000 people in 10 years and they only had enough "profit" to buy an old department store to expand into (after a tent!). They built no cathedral. They built not skyscraper. They merely moved into an open space. Non-profit is literal with true Christianity. Ask those companies you have stock in if they can say the same.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'chartres, cathedral, france, mystery, national, geographic' to 'chartres, cathedral, france, mystery, national, geographic, architecture' - edited by mauz15

You know you're a good egg, right? And you're a smart egg too, because you know I've been drinking. Again.

But you're still one of the best chicks out there. Not just in cyberspace, but the whole fucking universe. And when I wake up sober (and hung over) tomorrow morning, I'll write it again.

If nothing else, take the compliment. Why not? Do you think you don't deserve it? I may be inebriated right now, but just like Forrest Gump, I know what love is.

Stun.

(No silly asterisk. I also know what the real world is.)

You don't need to respond in kind. I'm not looking for reciprocity. Not an itinerary confirmation number from Expedia. Not a commitment of any kind. Just honesty.

Sorry if I've embarrassed you already, but that's how I roll. Words first, recriminations later. Thankfully I subscribe to Word of the Day. And that I've met you.

John

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
God, I fucking love it when you get drunk

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
LOL! You just figured that out!?

Okay, okay; I'm done laughing at you. You are one of my favorite chicks. Period. Not just online, but offline too. Not just in Britain, but the whole fucking planet. I love your direct, honest style. You don't pull any punches; you just tell it like it is. (Quite surprising for someone of British ancestry. Most Brits rely on sarcasm and dry humor to effetely express their opinions, but not you. In other words, you're a Brit with a dick. (Wait, that's not good for a chick, is it?))

Okay, if you've had enough of my American wiseass, I'll understand. Lord knows my ex-wife and numerous ex-girlfriends already have. But if you can read between the lines then you should already know that I think you're someone special. If I were ever to purchase a plane ticket to fly across the pond, it would be solely to meet you. Fuck the tour of Winchester Cathedral; fuck Buckingham Palace. I wouldn't care if you lived in a refrigerator box in the London Underground. Just give me the stop, because I'd be there.

Hopefully this unabashed declaration of love will be the new talk of the town, therefore drowning out all the negativity from the recent banishments. The internet is big, but VideoSift is a Peyton Place.

Like I said, you're the bees knees. And bees are the shit.

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
*afterthought* ...I'm the only British chick

God, I fucking love it when you get drunk

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
LOL! You just figured that out!?

Okay, okay; I'm done laughing at you. You are one of my favorite chicks. Period. Not just online, but offline too. Not just in Britain, but the whole fucking planet. I love your direct, honest style. You don't pull any punches; you just tell it like it is. (Quite surprising for someone of British ancestry. Most Brits rely on sarcasm and dry humor to effetely express their opinions, but not you. In other words, you're a Brit with a dick. (Wait, that's not good for a chick, is it?))

Okay, if you've had enough of my American wiseass, I'll understand. Lord knows my ex-wife and numerous ex-girlfriends already have. But if you can read between the lines then you should already know that I think you're someone special. If I were ever to purchase a plane ticket to fly across the pond, it would be solely to meet you. Fuck the tour of Winchester Cathedral; fuck Buckingham Palace. I wouldn't care if you lived in a refrigerator box in the London Underground. Just give me the stop, because I'd be there.

Hopefully this unabashed declaration of love will be the new talk of the town, therefore drowning out all the negativity from the recent banishments. The internet is big, but VideoSift is a Peyton Place.

Like I said, you're the bees knees. And bees are the shit.

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
*afterthought* ...I'm the only British chick

Elope with me Miss Private and we'll sail around the world
I will be your Ferdinand and you my wayward girl
How many nights of talking in hotel rooms can you take?
How many nights of limping round on pagan holidays?
Oh elope with me in private and we'll set something ablaze
A trail for the devil to erase

San Francisco's calling us, the Giants and Mets will play
Piazza, New York catcher, are you straight or are you gay?
We hung about the stadium, we've got no place to stay
We hung about the tenderloin and tenderly you tell
About the saddest book you ever read
that always makes you cry
The statue's crying too and well he may

I love you I've a drowning grip on your adoring face
I love you my responsibility has found a place
Beside you and strong warnings in the guise of gentle words
Come wave upon me from the family wider net absurd
"You'll take care of her, I know it, you will do a better job"
Maybe, but not what she deserves

Elope with me Miss Private and we'll drink ourselves awake
We'll taste the coffee houses and award certificates
A privy seal to keep the feel of 1960 style
We'll comment on the decor and we'll help the passer by
And at dusk when work is over we'll continue the debate
In a borrowed bedroom virginal and spare

The catcher hits for .318 and catches every day
The pitcher puts religion first and rests on holidays
He goes into cathedrals and lies prostrate on the floor
He knows the drink affects his speed he's praying for
a doorway
Back into the life he wants and the confession of the bench
Life outside the diamond is a wrench

I wish that you were here with me to pass the dull weekend
I know it wouldn't come to love, my heroine pretend
A lady stepping from the songs we love until this day
You'd settle for an epitaph like "Walk Away, Renee"
The sun upon the roof in winter will draw you out like a flower
Meet you at the statue in an hour
Meet you at the statue in an hour

that's hilarious. salvia, one strange ticket.
I took a bong rip sitting alone in the dark in closet of some powerful extract.
I turned into the plant and like a vine grows along a wall, I morphed into the floor I was sitting on and felt some sort vegetable overmind trying to talk to me all while flying thru a warp which felt almost too fast, almost violent in chaos and strong sensation of flying. Then before I knew it, the world came back and stepping out of my closet, I saw a cristalline flash radiating from every object in my room and I think I saw objects as pure concepts, not matter but merely ideas. Each object looked so fucking singular and purposeful, as if glowing/hovering/rotating all at the same time, that I understood a deeper minimalist approach to objects.
Anyway, at one point through all that, I saw cathedral looking archways in my carpet with people dancing inside them, maybe elves.
Good good stuff. I like the objectiveness of this drug, as if it's a parallel world everyone can just step in and start pointing things out in common.
Terrence Mckenna and others...
Ok enough for now...

These 2 guys are pretty good as well:

http://www.videosift.com/video/A-River-Runs-Through-It-Final-Scene


In reply to this comment by RhesusMonk:
My skin is icy. Sorkin is a god. "Feckless thug." Gorgeous. Too bad amrty said "gracis tibi ago" instead of "gratias." If this sifts, I'll do some work on a full translation of the rest. =)